A graduate of Exeter University, Rowling moved to Portugal in 1990 to teach English. There, she met and married a Portuguese journalist. The couple's daughter, Jessica, was born in 1993. After her marriage ended in divorce, Rowling moved to Edinburgh with her daughter to live near her younger sister, Di. While struggling to support Jessica and herself on welfare, Rowling worked on a book, the idea for which had reportedly occurred to her while she was traveling on a train from Manchester to London in 1990. After a number of rejections, she finally sold the book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (the word "Philosopher" was changed to "Sorcerer" for its publication in America), for the equivalent of about $4,000.

By the summer of 2000, the first three Harry Potter books: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban earned approximately $480 million in three years, with over 35 million copies in print in 35 languages. In July 2000, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire saw a first printing of 5.3 million copies and advance orders of over 1.8 million. Rowling, now one of Britain's richest women, plans a total of seven books in the series, each chronicling a year in the life of Harry Potter, a young wizard, and his motley band of cohorts at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The fifth installment, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, is due to hit book stores June 21st, 2003, roughly 3 years since the fourth book.

A film version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, directed by Chris Columbus (Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire) was released  November 16th, 2001. In its opening weekend in the U.S., the film debuted on a record 8,200 screens and smashed the previous box office record, earning an estimated $93.5 million ($20 million more than the previous recordholder, 1999's The Lost World: Jurassic Park). It ended the year as the top-grossing movie of 2001. The second film in the series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, opened  on November 15th, 2002 and had the third best opening weekend in box office history.

In late December 2001, Rowling married the anesthetist Dr. Neil Murray at the couple's home in Scotland. Her second child and first son, David Gordon Rowling Murray, was born on March 24th, 2003, at the new Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh. To care for their son, Rowling publicly planned less appearances and book signigns for the fifth book. Work on the sixth Harry Potter book of the series, that of which we do not yet know the title, is said to have already started, but will not be expected until 2005.

Longer Biography: Thanks Bloomsbury

J.K. (Joanne Kathleen) Rowling was born in 1965 and grew up in Chepstow, Gwent. She left Chepstow to study French at Exeter University, where her course included a year in Paris. As a postgraduate, she moved to London to work at Amnesty International doing research into human rights abuses in Francophone Africa. She started writing Harry Potter after the idea occurred to her on an interminable Manchester to London train journey. Jo then moved to north Portugal to teach English as a foreign language, married, got pregnant, and kept writing. By the time her daughter was born, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was one-quarter finished.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published by Bloomsbury Children's Books in June 1997 to great critical acclaim, and has since won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize Gold Medal (911 years), the FCBG Children's Book Award (overall winner), the Birmingham Cable Children's Book Award, the Young Telegraph Paperback of the Year, the British Book Awards' Children's Book of the Year and the Sheffield Children's Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Award and the Carnegie Medal (received 'Commended'). The book has also won two extremely prestigious foreign awards  Sorcieres Prix 1998 in France and the Premio Cento per la Letteratura Infantile 1998 in Italy.

The second title in the series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was published in July 1998 and was no. 1 in the overall adult hardback bestseller charts for a month after publication. It has since won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (911 years), the Scottish Arts Council Children's Book Award, the FCBG Children's Book Award and the British Book Awards' Children's Book of the Year, plus been shortlisted for the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year Award, the Sheffield Children's Book Award, and the Guardian Fiction Prize. J.K. Rowling was voted BA Author of the Year in 1999.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was published on 8 July 1999 to nationwide acclaim and massive press attention, spending its first four weeks at no.1 in the hardback bestseller charts, while Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone simultaneously topped the paperback charts. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (911 years), and the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the Children's Book Award, Sheffield Children's Book Award, the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Fiction Prize. J.K. Rowling was voted author of the year at the 1999 British Book Awards (Nibbies) and she recently won BA Author of the Year for the second year running. She was awarded an OBE for services to children's literature in June 2000.

The fourth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was published on 8 July 2000 with a record first print run of 1 million copies, and quickly broke all records for the greatest number of books sold on the first day of publication, as well as shooting to the top of the bestseller charts.

J.K. Rowling wrote two books in aid of Comic Relief, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch through the Ages which were published in March 2001.

Warner Brothers have bought the rights to the first two books in the Harry Potter series. The first film was released on 16 November 2001. The film of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was released on 15 November 2002.

The fifth book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, was published on June 21st 2003.

The Latin and Welsh translations of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone were published by Bloomsbury in July 2003. The Irish Gaelic and Ancient Greek translations follow in the Summer 2004, and the Scottish Gaelic translation at a date to be confirmed.

All four of the published Harry Potter novels by JK Rowling have been voted into the BBC Big Read's top 100, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire has been voted into the top 21. The list was voted for by people in the UK.

Write to her

In the UK J.K. Rowling c/o Bloomsbury Publishing Place 38 Soho Square London W1V 5DF England In the USA J.K. Rowling c/o Scholastic Books 555 Broadway New York NY 10012 U.S.A Warner Brothers JK Rowling C/O Warner Bros. 4000 Warner Blvd. Burbank, CA 91522